Candle Lighter

One of my least favorite tasks is crouching in front of the kitchen oven or gas heater, and burning my fingers as I try to restart the pilot light with regular matches. I end up cursing the fact that I don't own extra-long matches or a stove lighter, but then I never go out an ...more

Eating fire is a guaranteed method of not only impressing an entire room, but also instantly settling any questions as to whether or not you're a complete and total stone cold BAD ASS. When you can casually whip this trick out in a bar, you're not only going to get your drinks ...more

Fire.  It’s everywhere— always has been.  From the Ordovician Period where the first fossil record of fire appears to the present day everyday uses of the Holocene.  Today, we abundantly create flames (intentionally or unintentionally) in power plants, extractive metallurgy, i ...more

It's that time a year when winter storms begin causing havoc across the United States, and when "rotating outages" are common to help sustain the electrical grid during intense cold periods. That means pretty much anybody with snow and ice in their backyard can succumb to powe ...more

I am writing this quick post in response to the recent earthquakes and tsunamis that are affecting Japan. As soon as the news broke, and we began to hear of tsunami warning for our area, I immediately realized how under prepared I was for a natural disaster. The thing that dro ...more

I finally got around to trying out another one of Will's mad science experiments and found out that this one was actually more satisfying (and less frustrating) than my slightly uncooperative jar jet. There's something very pleasing about making potassium nitrate at home in th ...more

You must ONLY conduct this experiment if you are experienced in using combustibles and understand the risk. Fire is very dangerous and can seriously burn you. Seems harmless at first, but believe me, these are bubbles turned evil. When ignited, the bubbles pop almost instantly ...more

Sputnik was the very first man-made object to be sent into space. Though it was a truly epic accomplishment, all this Soviet sky surfer actually did was transmit a constant beeping noise back to the surface. Your young students can learn about the history of space travel whil ...more

We've featured Temporary Services before, but we thought they deserved a full spread. In this post, we've included some of their How-To drawings and examples of recreated prison art. Temporary Services is: "... a project in collaboration with Angelo, an incarcerated artist. ...more

Want to make your own glass drinking cups? You don't need to be a glassworker to get creative. Just recycle some of your old beer, soda, or wine bottles into stylish toothbrush holders or glass cups. You can tie a loop of string that was dipped in nail polish remover around a ...more

Convenience is a big deal these days. You can buy single-serving or single-use sizes of just about anything, from fruits and vegetables to sanitizing wipes, and, apparently, even bananas. Uhh, it already has a wrapper... Admittedly, we do have one of those espresso machines h ...more

Look on any bistro or pub menu in America and you'll likely find the term caramelized onions as an option for your burger. The word "caramel" may conjure up images of candy, which is somewhat correct. When high temperatures are applied to certain foods, the sugars within them ...more